Are you a musican

[zanzibar]

When i compose music, i usually sit infront of my piano. I pick up some nodes and play them, then i just play some random nodes not 100% random though. And after 2 minutes or something a skeleton for a melody pops up!

It depends on the kind of music you're writing.  Melody only counts for so much.

Of course it a lot easier to write happy music, than to write sentimental/sad music i think..

It depends on the person.  Even though I don't do it on purpose, my stuff has been consistently described as minimalist and sentimental.  And let's just say that I haven't written very many pop songs.

[Nividia Stormlance]

I yust wrote a stupid-disco song
here's the beggining of it:

a+c+e
a+c+e
a+c+e
g+h+d
g+h+d
g+h+d
g+h+d
F+a+c
F+a+c
F+a+c
F+a+c

[reisio]

Saxamaphone

[Loto]

I Have only 3 instruments that i play continually. Trumpet (6 yrs), Euphonium (1yr), and BASS GUITAR!!! w00t!

I also am learning several others: Harmonica, Mandolin, Piano, and Drums

[Primu Secreus]

I play piano and trombone, and I am in my school choir.   

[~Dunian~]

I just play the piano .

[Von H?rskiburg]

I've played piano since I was a little kid, although for the last 5 years I've considered the guitar as my main instrument. I play the guitar and some keyboards in a band called Zodiac Sunrise. In case anyone's interested here's a couple of links to our songs:
Stagnation: http://www.mikseri.net/music/play.php?id=199139&type=dl
Spasmodic Motions: http://www.mikseri.net/music/play.php?id=172381&type=dl

[zanzibar]

I've played piano since I was a little kid, although for the last 5 years I've considered the guitar as my main instrument. I play the guitar and some keyboards in a band called Zodiac Sunrise. In case anyone's interested here's a couple of links to our songs:
Stagnation: http://www.mikseri.net/music/play.php?id=199139&type=dl
Spasmodic Motions: http://www.mikseri.net/music/play.php?id=172381&type=dl

I'm halfway through Stagnation right now.  I like the stoner rock/metal vibe you have going on.

[Alhana]

When i compose music, i usually sit infront of my piano. I pick up some nodes and play them, then i just play some random nodes not 100% random though. And after 2 minutes or something a skeleton for a melody pops up!

I'm more of a dabbler myself, I have no skills in any real instruments and I rely on the PC for sequencing and synthetic instruments.  But what you said above is how I go about composing mine.

Of course it a lot easier to write happy music, than to write sentimental/sad music i think..

I'm quite the opposite.  My mood at the time is reflected within the tune, but I always like to have a scene in mind for the tune to goto.

[Xordan]

I would say that the difference between great music and average music is that great music has feeling and tells a story. Average music is just a bunch of notes that sound good when strung together. A great composer will sit down, and start playing straight away what he/she feels. An average composer will play notes until it sounds nice.

[zanzibar]

I would say that the difference between great music and average music is that great music has feeling and tells a story. Average music is just a bunch of notes that sound good when strung together. A great composer will sit down, and start playing straight away what he/she feels. An average composer will play notes until it sounds nice.

I disagree.  I think that abstract music can be better than program music (music that tells a story).  Unless you're a country or emo fan, that is.

And no.... great composers don't necessarily just play out the final version of their work the first time they play it.  In classical music, we can look at the works of beethoven and stravinsky and see that they were constantly reworking things and rethinking them out.  In rock, it's normal to build up a portfolio of riffs and ideas, then you draw from that portfolio in constructing a song by putting together riffs and sections and progressions that you think work well together.

[zorbels]

I play the flute. Not as much as I used to but I still enjoy bringing it out every once and awhile. 

[vialick]

I used to play the viola...I'm thinking of taking it back up

Otherwise I'm an electronic musician with 2 main projects: Warmth Aberration (dark ambient, noise, darkwave, death industrial) and Neuronettic (industrial, ebm, powernoise) and I also do the occasional experiment (mostly making glitchcore).

If anyone wants I listen, I can post some URLs

[Induane]

I spent a lot of years playing flute and have a quite nice one finally - you wouldn't believe the difference open tone holes make!  Since I play flute, I'm also proficient on the saxaphone pretty much by default, as fingering on the two instruments is nearly identical.  I also play guitar, though as my electric is broken and I have no amp anyways, I'm playing on my acoustic.  Acoustic is great for some things but alot of the stuff I'd like to attempt requires an electric.  I don't play piano, nor do I compose, other than in Finale - which is some simple music notation software... but i don't actually know anything about composing I just make stuff up.

[zanzibar]

I spent a lot of years playing flute and have a quite nice one finally - you wouldn't believe the difference open tone holes make!  Since I play flute, I'm also proficient on the saxaphone pretty much by default, as fingering on the two instruments is nearly identical.  I also play guitar, though as my electric is broken and I have no amp anyways, I'm playing on my acoustic.  Acoustic is great for some things but alot of the stuff I'd like to attempt requires an electric.  I don't play piano, nor do I compose, other than in Finale - which is some simple music notation software... but i don't actually know anything about composing I just make stuff up.

I play flute for some charts when I do jazz ensemble.  I get solos from time to time too, only flute isn't a Eb/Bb/Ab instrument like sax is!